A Temporary Truce

{{Infobox film

| name = A Temporary Truce

| image =

| caption =

| director = D. W. Griffith

| producer =

| writer = George Hennessy

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| cinematography = G. W. Bitzer

| distributor = Biograph Company

| released = {{Film date|1912|6|10}}

| runtime = 17 minutes

| country = United States

| language = Silent (English intertitles)

}}

A Temporary Truce is a 1912 American short silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the Library of Congress.{{cite web |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/T/TemporaryTruce1912.html |title=Silent Era: A Temporary Truce |access-date=July 13, 2008 |work=Silent Era}}

Plot

Mexican Jim, the villain, kidnaps Alice, wife of Jack the prospector. Jack declares a temporary truce with Jim so they can both battle the Indians as a common enemy.{{cite book |last1=Niver |first1=Kemp R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AgMVkzBpUzkC |title=Early Motion Pictures: The Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress |date=1985 |publisher=Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress |isbn=978-0-8444-0463-9 |page=321}}

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Charles Hill Mailes as Mexican Jim
Claire McDowell as Mexican Jim's Wife
Charles Gorman as Jack, the Prospector
Blanche Sweet as Alice, the Prospector's Wife
W. Chrystie Miller as The Murdered Indian / Indian on Street
W. Christy Cabanne as An Indian
William A. Carroll as In Bar / Among Rescuers
Frank Evans as In Bar / Among Rescuers
Robert Harron as The Murdered Indian's Son
Bert Hendler as In Bar
Harry Hyde as Among Rescuers / Outside Pony Express Office
J. Jiquel Lanoe as An Indian / Among Rescuers
Wilfred Lucas as An Indian
Mae Marsh as A Murdered Settler
Frank Opperman as A Drunken Cutthroat / The Indian Chief / The Bartender
Alfred Paget as A Drunken Cutthroat / An Indian / Among Rescuers
Jack Pickford as An Indian
W. C. Robinson as An Indian / In Bar / Among Rescuers
Charles West

}}

Themes

D. W. Griffith did not always portray Mexican characters in a negative light; however, in this film they are portrayed as a threat to white families and women.{{cite book |last1=Bernardi |first1=Daniel |last2=Green |first2=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8NgoDwAAQBAJ |title=Race in American Film: Voices and Visions that Shaped a Nation |date=2017 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-39840-7 |page=386}} The film is more complex in this regard that previous Griffith work.{{cite book |last=Usai |first=Paolo Cherchi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1jyDwAAQBAJ |title=The Griffith Project, Volume 5: Films Produced in 1911 |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83902-011-7}}

Production

The cast was considered to be quite large for a short film under two reels.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rcIzAQAAIAAJ |title=Film & Video Finder: Title Section (A-K) |date=1997 |publisher=National Information Center for Educational Media |isbn=978-0-937548-29-5 |page=3110}} This is one of three D. W. Griffith films that Bert Hendler appeared in.{{cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu3nNSmRjZ0C |title=The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville |date=2012 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-61703-250-9 |page=238}} The cast also included Mae Marsh, who worked with Griffith on many films, including The Birth of a Nation. She was one of his favorites and in a 1923 interview, Griffith noted that "Mae Marsh was born a film star."{{cite book |last=Lowe |first=Denise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68e2AgAAQBAJ |title=An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-71896-3}}